Free Update for Existing Customers

ARLINGTON, Va. eknow inc today announced advanced support for multiple corporate development organizations in the same instance of eknow Integrator, each with its own transaction deal flow, staffing and reporting, as part of the eknow Integrator version 11.9.0 update.

Developed continuously since 1999, eknow Integrator is a secure, web-based tool to simplify and improve results from M&A. Integrator integrates the contributions of distributed teams and individuals, from corporate development through synergy capture, across multiple organizations, and over any number of acquisitions. eknow Integrator is now the most mature and easy-to-use tool of its kind.

eknow introduced support for corporate development organizations in version 10. Since then, multinational eknow customers have requested support for multiple business units. Version 11.9.0 provides advanced, stable beta implementation of this functionality.

Additional corporate development features in 11.9.0 include: Management views to define any number of corporate development organizations, new project tracking fields for each acquisition target, extensive new risk analysis features, historical transaction financials for each target, view of comparative historical transaction data, revised corporate development opportunity reports, and more.

Version 11.9.0 is a free upgrade for customers of version 11.5 or later. Your primary eknow contact can schedule the update and an orientation. The new corporate development functionality and pricing for new customers is scheduled for final (non-beta) release in Q4, 2010.

About Integrator
Integrator's unique design and automation make it the easiest-to-use, lowest-risk, and most cost-effective platform to execute M&A, divestitures and reorganizations. Integrator's ease of use enables clients to begin using the system immediately, with no IT resources, little or no training for most users, and little or no consultant support. With Integrator, even the smallest program teams can now easily manage and track far more teams, plans, contributors, data, documents, and results – even across multiple simultaneous acquisitions – with vastly less effort. eknow Integrator is provided as securely hosted software-as-a-service.

About eknow inc
eknow inc is an Arlington, Virginia-based leader in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) automation software solutions. eknow solutions have been helping companies identify, execute, and increase returns from M&A, restructuring, and major corporate initiatives since 1999. 

For more information on eknow or our eknow Integrator service, or to schedule a demo, contact eknow's EVP of Sales & Marketing at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (703) 875-9191.

Version Update Free for Existing Customers

ARLINGTON, Virginia. For professionals in M&A and corporate strategy, eknow inc today announced significant risk management functionality in the latest release of eknow's Integrator software for M&A. eknow Integrator version 11.9.0, available now, adds new, easy-to-use risk data entry forms, improved risk mitigation tracking, and new reports, automation, and risk analysis charts and summaries.

Continuously developed since 1999, eknow Integrator is a web-based tool to simplify execution and improve results from corporate development, due diligence, post-M&A integration, synergy capture, and reorganizations. eknow Integrator "integrates" the efforts of far-flung contributors, across distributed M&A teams, across multiple organizations, across multiple M&A phases, and across multiple acquisitions. Integrator is now the most mature and easy-to-use tool of its kind.

With version 11.9.0, eknow now democratizes M&A risk management. Acquisition risks include the unplanned costs of transition delays, litigation, regulatory non-compliance, customer defection, key employee attrition, market entry delays, transition service agreements, security, and many others. Thus managing acquisition risks can represent a costly information and process management challenge. Many M&A teams do not have the time, resources, or experience to formally manage as many critical transition risks as they would like. Integrator version 11.9.0 addresses this challenge.

In Integrator, distributed M&A teams use simple built-in web forms to identify, categorize, and value potential risks, and assign owners to mitigation steps. Since risks can be identified in any phase of M&A, Integrator ensures that risks identified during target evaluation or due diligence do not fall through the cracks in later M&A phases. Responsible managers can see the status of previously identified risks at all times. For senior management, Integrator automatically charts the acquisition's total weighted risk exposure by risk type, area, and mitigation status, in real-time, with no additional human intervention. The top-priority risks are also automatically segregated and reported for high-level review. For authorized users, Integrator will simultaneously summarize risk data for any number of past or current acquisitions for which the user has visibility privileges.

By streamlining and automating M&A risk management, Integrator allows even small M&A teams to more easily track and mitigate more acquisition risks, more fully, and more consistently across teams or risk areas. Relatively inexperienced teams can now track risks more effectively than even experienced M&A teams who are stuck with spreadsheets, shared drives, and traditional project management tools. And because each acquisition's risk history and lessons learned are automatically institutionalized in Integrator, risk management in current transactions can improve results in future transactions.

Thanks to Integrator's defining ease-of-use and consistent user interface, these risk management features in Integrator 11.9.0 present virtually no new learning curve for users. For customers who do not yet need to track risks, Integrator's risk features can remain completely hidden until needed. For the rest, Integrator was expressly designed so that users managing other M&A processes in Integrator today already know virtually everything necessary to capture, track, and update risks as well.

"In many transactions, the entire annual cost of eknow Integrator can be offset by mitigating just one small, additional risk," said Manuel Sanches, eknow President and CTO. "But with Integrator's transition risk tools, as with Integrator's other tools, the key is making the functionality truly accessible to any member of a busy M&A team. If a tool requires specialized expertise and training, it won't get used, and the job won't get done. Integrator is designed so that any M&A team can get the job done right now."

Version 11.9.0 is a free upgrade for customers of version 11.5 or later.

About Integrator
Integrator's unique design and automation make it the easiest-to-use, lowest-risk, and most cost-effective platform to execute M&A, divestitures and reorganizations. Integrator's ease of use enables clients to begin using the system immediately, with no IT resources, little or no training for most users, and little or no consultant support. With Integrator, even the smallest program teams can now easily manage and track far more teams, plans, contributors, data, documents, and results – even across multiple simultaneous acquisitions – with vastly less effort. eknow Integrator is provided as securely hosted software-as-a-service.

About eknow inc
eknow inc is an Arlington, Virginia-based leader in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) automation software solutions. eknow solutions have been helping companies identify, execute, and increase returns from M&A, restructuring, and major corporate initiatives since 1999. 

For more information on eknow or our eknow Integrator service, or to schedule a demo, contact eknow's EVP of Sales & Marketing at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (703) 875-9191.

Major update to M&A tool adds speed, features, ease of use

ARLINGTON, Virginia. For M&A professionals in post-merger integration and corporate development, eknow inc today announced a major mid-cycle update of the eknow Integrator software, to version 11.5.

Developed since 1999, eknow Integrator is the most mature, easy-to-use web-based tool for executing M&A, corporate reorganizations and divestitures. With version 11.5, Integrator puts even more distance between itself and the alternatives. Version 11.5 is the largest Integrator update since 2009, adding significant new functionality and raw performance while incrementally improving ease of use for every category of Integrator user.

What's New in Integrator 11.5:

• Raw speed in large queries: Integrator 11.5 accelerates the most complex program office report queries by approximately 8X.
• More drill-down metrics: All applicable views now display "apples-to-apples" progress metrics, rolled up by activity type, sub-team, team, M&A phase, and acquisition. Instantly identify any deviation at the top level and drill down to its source in seconds.
• New financial impact views: Integrator 11.5 adds alternative new roll-up views of total synergy component costs and benefits by team, acquisition, and time period.
• New flexible dates feature: Many plan dates are crude estimates or simply unknowable until months into the effort. Users therefore enter bogus dates or none at all. Unique to Integrator 11.5 is a third, more flexible option that streamlines date entry, eliminates constant date revision, and improves date reliability.
• Dependent date features: Integrator 11.5 allows tasks to be dependent not only on other selected tasks, but on any relevant date field in Integrator (e.g., Acquisition Close Date).
• Redesigned activity timeline: Integrator's timeline view has been completely revised, reformatted and expanded. Timeline view also displays progress metrics rolled up by month, M&A phase, and acquisition.
• New Pre-Diligence Views: Built-in Pre-Diligence scoring of acquisition pipeline. Populate with any categories and criteria. Graphical results as well as summary / drill-down data of data.
• Universal Action menu saves time: The context sensitive "Action menu" button eliminates 85% of steps required to add most new tasks or upload documents. The Action menu also now consolidates several other commands from other locations, making them easier to find. And because Integrator users already depend on the Action menu button every day, they already know how to use it in 11.5.
• New multiple-window interface: Until 11.5, Integrator navigation opened every page in a single active dashboard page. With 11.5, users can open any number of independent Integrator pages by shift-clicking the page links in the navigation menu. This allows users to quickly switch back and forth between views without waiting to reload a web page.

"Obviously we are very pleased with Integrator 11.5," said Manuel Sanches, eknow President and CTO. "We improved top-down visibility for management. We saved rank and file users possibly hundreds of mouse-clicks per day. The new date and metrics features address more of the issues that have made traditional project software so unpopular with M&A teams. And yet these new features do not add to the learning curve for most new users. By careful design we have extended integrator's capabilities while actually reducing how much most new users have to learn on average."

"As with most Integrator revisions, 11.5 allows eknow clients to do even more, even more easily. With 11.5 we think it's even more clear that for M&A, Integrator is now to spreadsheets what spreadsheets were to graph paper and a pencil." eknow Integrator customers will be updated to 11.5 free of charge during the month of June.

About Integrator
Integrator's unique design and automation make it the easiest-to-use, lowest-risk, and most cost-effective platform to execute M&A, divestitures and reorganizations. Integrator's ease of use enables clients to begin using the system immediately, with no IT resources, little or no training for most users, and little or no consultant support. With Integrator, even the smallest program teams can now easily manage and track far more teams, plans, contributors, data, documents, and results – even across multiple simultaneous acquisitions – with vastly less effort. eknow Integrator is provided as securely hosted software-as-a-service.

About eknow inc
eknow inc is an Arlington, Virginia-based leader in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) automation software solutions. eknow solutions have been helping companies identify, execute, and increase returns from M&A, restructuring, and major corporate initiatives since 1999. 

For more information on eknow or our eknow Integrator service, or to schedule a demo, contact eknow's EVP of Sales & Marketing at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or (703) 875-9191.

ARLINGTON, Virginia. For professionals in corporate development, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), and post-M&A integration, eknow inc today announced new features in the latest update of eknow Integrator, to version 11.0.4.

Since 1999, eknow Integrator has been the most mature, easy-to-use web-based tool for M&A, corporate reorganizations and divestitures. Version 11.0.4 adds several new features for Integrator users in executive, program, and project roles:

• New and revised real-time progress charts and scorecard summaries for each M&A phase and activity
• Instant access to Issue & Risk Mitigation plans
• New Decision Log with dedicated, easy-to-use management tool
• One-click export of multiple charts and reports from any Integrator page
• New tool for quickly organizing international regions, countries, sites, synergies and deliverables in multinational acquisitions
• Instantly preview, send or re-send any Integrator "iMemo" to any user in just one or two clicks
• Extensive new Glossary and Integrator FAQs built into Integrator
• New built-in reports to monitor usage by user, timeline, or Integrator page

Manuel Sanches, eknow President, Founder and CTO said, "The priorities for this release were ease of use and more direct access to what M&A managers and team members need. We are extremely happy with how many tangible enhancements we were able to squeeze into this point release. Now our challenge is to make our next release, v. 11.0.5, just as great." Mr. Sanches confirmed that 11.0.5 is on track for release later this quarter.

Integrator's unique design and automation make it the easiest-to-use, lowest-risk, and most cost-effective means to execute M&A, divestitures and reorganizations. Integrator's ease of use enables clients to begin using the system immediately, with no IT resources, little or no training for most users, and little or no consultant support. With Integrator, even the smallest program teams can now easily manage and track far more teams, plans, contributors, data, documents, and results – even across multiple simultaneous acquisitions – with vastly less effort.

For more information on eknow or our eknow Integrator service or to schedule an online demo, contact eknow's EVP of Sales & Marketing at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or via phone at 1 (703) 875-9191.

About eknow inc
eknow inc is an Arlington, Virginia-based leader in mergers & acquisitions (M&A) automation software solutions. eknow solutions have been helping companies identify, execute, and increase returns from M&A, restructuring, and major corporate initiatives since 1999. For more information, visit www.eknow.com.